Somebody Figured It Out

I just came from ordering my wife a new iPhone 5 32GB in white. I have to say, this was the most painless iPhone purchasing experience I’ve ever had. Unlike last year with the delays, the server hitches, the AT&T screwups that cost me my texting plan (I eventually got it back)…this year it was just wait till Apple Store came up, order phone, get confirmation email right away, call it a night. Seriously.

Even after I ordered, the Apple Store was still functioning perfectly well enough for me to go back and attempt an upgrade on my own line, just to see if AT&T was offering up any last-minute price breaks for us loyal customers. Nooooot so much. (Didn’t expect any.) As a result, I didn’t order one for myself. I’ve got too many irons in the fire what with my 4S trade-in going astray in UPS’s sorting system…ugh, what a nightmare.

I almost hit a snag at first, but caught myself. AT&T’s website was also taking preorders, and their site actually came online almost ten minutes early. I went in and had my wife’s iPhone all configured and added to my cart, but in typical AT&T fashion, they had her data services all goofed up. Her monthly data plan was listed twice, indicating that she would be charged two data plan fees — the only difference being that one said “with Visual Voicemail” and the other said “No Visual Voicemail”. WTF? And her texting plan was totally AWOL.

She’s on the same grandfathered $5 texting plan that I am, and there was no way in hell I was gonna jeopardize it, so I held off. Apple’s own website still wasn’t back up by this time, but I took a chance that when it came up, those service line-items would be ported over properly. In the end, I’m glad I did. On Apple’s site, all of her existing services ported over perfectly. Figures that Apple would have a better grip on an AT&T customer’s services than AT&T themselves.

Well, I’m headed to bed…and it’s a fair sight earlier than the 4:30 a.m. upon which I shuffled off to the sack last year during the 4S launch. Well played, Apple. Well played.